Just to be Together
by Bookaholic711
Summary: Post TLO- Percy and Annabeth return to Camp Half-Blood for the next summer and meet on the beach on their first day back. Sweetness ensues. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I'm a girl. Is Rick Riordan a girl? I don't own his characters, his plot, or his locations.

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Ah, summer. There's nothing quite like it, is there? The feeling of freedom, of beach weather, and most importantly, of summer camp.

It was June 19th, 6:30 P.M., the first day of summer vacation, and freedom was mine. I was at my favorite place in the world, the beach at Camp Half-Blood. Connor and Travis had given me some Diet Cokes as a welcome home gift, and I was just chilling out.

The beach was truly beautiful. The sand was that perfect whitey-tan, the color you always see in movies. The water was a deep blue-green, calm and flat until it spilled into frothy white waves against the sand. The sun was setting, sending tendrils of orange and pink across the slowly darkening sky. On my other side, the moon, nearly full, was a grey globe rising into the night.

And there I was. At the most beautiful place I knew. School was out, and this summer was for fun and training, and not for fighting for lives. It was for hanging out with friends, new and old, and not for thinking about all those I'd lost. It was for living in _now_, and not for thinking about the past.

I ran fingers through my jet black hair and took another swig of my soda. Soon, I would be called over to the dining pavilion to eat and reunite with all of my friends. I sighed in pleasure, closing my eyes and relaxing into the warm sand.

"Comfortable?"

I smiled without opening my eyes. I'd know that voice anywhere in the world, even without my tell-tale nickname stuck in the sentence.

"Quite," I responded. I sat up and opened my eyes, taking in the sight of her. If it was possible, she was even more beautiful than the last time I'd seen her. Which was saying something, as that was only about a month ago. Her golden blond curls fell in their usual ponytail, ending just past her shoulders. The light of the setting sun behind her lit up her head like a halo, but I could still see every feature on her beautiful face. The rounded chin, pink lips pulled up into a smiles, revealing a row of perfect white teeth, the small, curved nose, and those stormy grey eyes, staring right into mine. I reached up, placing a hand on her soft check.

"Hi Annabeth," I said. She brought her hand up and place it on top of mine.

"Hi Percy," she said. She smiled with true happiness, and my heart flew.

"Missed you," I told her.

"Missed you too," she replied. "But now we have all summer." I nodded, playing over the idea in my mind. Annabeth and I had started going out at the end of last summer, but we'd barely seen each other all year. And now we got to spend everyday together. There would be no quest this summer, no war. It was just training, camp, and we. Doing work for Chiron and eating together in the pavilion and playing capture the flag in the forest. Just fun. I was ecstatic.

I slid my hand off of her face and intertwined my fingers in hers. I was torn between looking and her and the view, so my eyes settled for some of both.

"So," I asked, "how were those last couple months?"

"Oh, you know," Annabeth said, looking down, "busy. Stressful." I nodded sympathetically. I did know. Junior year was _hard_. And I was at public school with nothing else going on in my life. Annabeth had been at a boarding school, rebuilding Olympus at the same time. She had to be exhausted.

After that we feel into silence. Both of us looked out at the ocean, and I thought about Annabeth. My mind went to question I'd been begging myself to answer for months. Something Thalia had stuck in my head. Did I love her? I'd been thinking about it a lot. And suddenly, without even thinking about the answer, just thinking the question, I blurted it out.

"I love you."

I turned to face her instantly, wondering where in Hades all my courage had come from. I hadn't even thought about it, but I knew that when I made my decision I wouldn't be telling Annabeth about it. And now I'd just let it come out.

It took about half a second for me to register that I had actually said that, and that, of course, it was completely true. But I filled with panic. What if she didn't say anything? What if, worse, she didn't love me back? Then what was I going to do?

But a second later she turned to me, and I saw it in her eyes. "I love you, Percy.

And there it was. Those words, the ones that there was no going back from, she'd said them.

I knew somewhere above Manhattan, Athena and Poseidon were seething.

But this wasn't their moment, it was ours.

Instinctively, I reached out and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her against my body. She tilted her head, looking up at me. She leaned towards me, and our lips touched. I turned my head, kissing her gently. My arms slid down her back, stopping at her waist, and her hands came up to my face. One of them trailed down my cheek and wrapped around my neck, pulling me closer to her, and my brain completely shorted out.

It was perfect.

At least for a moment, that is.

"Hey, lovebirds!" called a voice from the top of the sloping beach.

Annabeth and I separated, turning simultaneously to looked towards the speaker. Nico stood at the top of the hill, smiling his annoying smile.

"I know you're busy," he said, trying not to laugh, "but Chiron sent me to come find two. Dinner!"

Sighing, I got to my feet, throwing the empty Diet Coke can into my pocket and offering Annabeth a hand. I pulled her to her feet, noticing for the first time what she was wearing. Her feet were bare, and her short denim shorts revealed more of her curvy legs than usual. As always, she wore her orange Camp Half Blood t-shirt. We walked up to Nico, who was grinning mischievously.

"So guys," he asked, "what day am I saving for the wedding?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and I threw a punch at Nico's shoulder. He dodged, grinned even wider, and took off running, feet moving lightly over the green grass.

I looked at Annabeth. Leaning forward, I brushed my lips against hers against as I took her hand. She smiled at me, and, hand in hand, we made our way toward the dining pavilion, and a whole summer just to be together.

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**AN: And there you have it. Just a sweet scene I came up with. Now you all know what I really do in Study Hall. **

**Anyways, I hope you liked it and would be totally thrilled if you would drop me a review. :)  
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